Open Book: January 2025

Open book
In this issue

Letter from CELA’s Executive Director

January always seems to fly by. Our team had an excellent time at the Ontario Library Association Conference and enjoyed talking with colleagues about all the advances and opportunities in accessible reading. We were also thrilled to be able to gather as a team in Toronto. It’s something that doesn’t happen often as the CELA team and board are spread across the country.

January was also World Braille Month. Along with colleagues from AEBC, AERO, BLC, CCB, CELA, CNIB Beyond Print, CNIB Foundation, NNELS, and PRCVI, we honoured the birth month of Louis Braille by bringing together members of the braille community to talk about the impact of braille on their lives. Recordings of these events will be available shortly. It is always a pleasure to collaborate with other organizations to help promote and celebrate braille.

The winter months are the perfect time for digging into some great books. We are delighted to be working with the CBC again to offer the Canada Reads selected titles in accessible formats. The shortlist was just announced last week. We are also rooting for all the Canadian authors named to the Dublin Literary Prize longlist. There are some fantastic books on this year’s list. Check out our awards update below to find these and other award-winning books. 

Happy Reading!

Laurie Davidson, Executive Director

Canada Reads

The 5 Canada Reads debaters with their chosen booksCongratulations to all the authors whose books were selected for this year's Canada Reads debates. 

The debates will take place March 17-20 and will be available on all CBC streaming platforms.

This year's books include:

If you want to explore all the books, find the longlist titles in our collection.

Find more information about Canada Reads on the CBC website.

Awards updates

Cover of the book James by Percival Everett.Congratulations to the seven Canadian authors who have been named to the long list for the Dublin Literary Award. Curious about who made the list? 

Canadians nominated for the Dublin longlist

Full list of Dublin Prize nominees

The Edgar Awards have released their list of nominees. The Edgars are organized by the Mystery Writers of America to recognize the best in crime and mystery writing. The 79th Annual Edgar Awards will be celebrated on May 1, 2025.

Read the Edgar Award nominees in our collection.

Percival Everett's James has been awarded Carnegie Medal for fiction. The retelling of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Jim, Huck Finn's enslaved companion, is a New York Times bestseller and has already received the National Book Award. 

Black History Month

Cover of the book Blackness Is a Gift I Can Give Her by R. Renee Hess.February is Black History Month and it is an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of Black communities in Canada and listen to their stories.

We have collected a few books by Black authors, many of them Canadian or working in Canada. 

For more book suggestions for Black History Month, check out our blog post.

Our suggested books: 

What We All Long For by Dionne Brand

Blackness Is a Gift I Can Give Her by R. Renee Hess

Borders, Human Itineraries, and All Our Relation: 2022 (The Alchemy Lecture) By Dele Adeyemo, Natalie Diaz, Nadia Yala Kisukidi, Rinaldo Walcott 

Guide Me Home (Highway 59 #3) by Attica Locke

Reading for Truth and Reconciliation

Cover of Reconciling History: A Story of Canada By Jody Wilson-Raybould, and Roshan DaneshReconciling History: A Story of Canada
By Jody Wilson-Raybould, and Roshan Danesh

From the #1 national bestselling author of "Indian" in the Cabinet and True Reconciliation, a truly unique history of our land—powerful, devastating, remarkable—as told through the voices of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.

When it comes to telling the history of Canada, and in particular the history of the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, we need to accept that the way in which our history has traditionally been told has not been a common or shared enterprise. In many ways, it has been an exclusive and siloed one. Among the countless peoples and groups that make up this vast country, the voices and experiences of a few have too often dominated those of many others.

Reconciling History shares voices that have seldom been heard, and in this ground-breaking book they are telling and re-telling history from their perspectives. Born out of the oral history in True Reconciliation, and complemented throughout with stunning photography and art, Reconciling History takes this approach to telling our collective story to an entirely different level.

Read this book in our collection in braille and audio narrated by the author. 

Books in the news

Cover of the book Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli.When is a Romantasy book more than just about romance and fantasy? When there is intrigue around its publishing.
This New Yorker article explores whether a bestselling Romantasy author tried to steal another writer's story. 

Does this sound familiar to you? Yellowface by R. F Kuang is a novel that touches on similar themes. 

But if you are just here for the romantasy recommendations, we have those too. Here are our favourites published in 2024. 

Webinars for you

We host a series of webinars on Zoom to help users access CELA services, to stay up to date on new technologies and to learn more about accessible reading. Most of our webinars are recorded.

On the Webinars for you page, you will find upcoming webinars. On that same page you will find links to other CELA video resources available on our YouTube channel.

Ask Us! Come chat with CELA staff and have your questions answered

This hour-long interactive conversation gives CELA users an opportunity to ask questions related to using CELA’s library services. We encourage you to bring your questions and learn from CELA staff, as well as to share experiences with other CELA patrons in the audience. This Q&A aims to support how you access the books, magazines and newspapers in CELA’s multiple format collections for people with print disabilities.

Select the link below to register for this conversation:

Tues, Feb 11 1:00-2:00pm EST

Cover of the book The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight.A witty, warm and brilliantly told debut that is at once a love story, a story of female friendship and motherhood, and an irresistible mystery surrounding an extraordinary British family.

Arriving at the University of Edinburgh for her first term, Pen knows her divorced parents back in Canada are hiding something from her. She believes she’ll find the answer here in Scotland, where an old friend of her father’s—now a famous writer known as Lord Lennox—lives.

When she is invited to spend the weekend at Lord Lennox’s centuries-old estate with his enveloping, intriguing family, Pen begins to unravel her parents’ secret and to fall in love for the first time... Her best friend, Alice, an aspiring actor, is starring in a university production and making the most of the feminine power she wields—until a tryst with her tutor threatens to spin out of control.

As Pen experiences the sharp shock of adulthood, she uncovers the truth about her own family and comes to rely on herself for the first time in her life. A rich and rewarding novel of campus life, of sexual awakening, and ultimately, of the many ways women can become mothers in this world, The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus asks to what extent we need to look back in order to move forward.

Read The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight.

Top five books

Cover of the book The War We Won Apart by Nahlah Ayed.Most popular with our readers this month:

  1. The War We Won Apart: The Untold Story of Two Elite Agents Who Became One of the Most Decorated Couples of WWII by Nahlah Ayed, Women biography
  2. Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton, General fiction
  3. Tom Lake: A Novel by Ann Patchett, Family stories
  4. Queen of the Mist by Caroline Cauchi, Historical fiction
  5. The Grey Wolf (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #19) by Louise Penny, Mysteries and crime stories

Featured title for kids: Kwame Crashes the Underworld

Cover of the book Kwame Crashes the Underworld by Craig Kofi Farmer.Discover a stunning middle grade fantasy about a boy hurled into the Ghanaian underworld to help his grandmother save humanity, perfect for fans of Tristan Strong and Amari and the Night Brothers. Twelve-year-old Kwame Powell isn't ready to deal with losing his grandmother, even as he and his family head to Ghana for her celebration of life. He's definitely not ready when he's sucked into a magical whirlpool that leads straight to Asamando, the Ghanaian underworld.

There, he comes face to face with his grandmother, who is very much alive, and somehow still...a kid? Together with his best friend, Autumn, and a talkative aboatia named Woo, Kwame must battle angry nature gods, and stop the underworld from destroying the land of the living. But there's an even bigger problem: Only living souls can leave Asamando. In order to save the mortal world and return home, Kwame will need to find the courage to do the bravest thing of all — learn how to say goodbye.

Read Kwame Crashes the Underworld by Craig Kofi Farmer.

Top five for kids

Cover of the book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling.Most popular with kids this month:

  1. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, Fantasy
  2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter #7) by J. K. Rowling, Fantasy
  3. Heart Berry Bling by Jenny Kay Dupuis, Alphabet, number and picture books
  4. Little Women: Little Women; Good Wives by Louisa May Alcott, Classic fiction
  5. The Complete Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis, Fantasy

Top five for teens

Cover of the book Caraval by Stephanie Garber.Most popular with teens this month:

  1. Caraval (Caraval #1) by Stephanie Garber, Family stories
  2. A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks, Bestsellers (fiction)
  3. The Fire Never Goes Out: A Memoir in Pictures by Noelle Stevenson, Biography
  4. The Hungery Games (Hunger Games #1) by Suzanne Collins, Science fiction
  5. Destroy Me: Fracture Me and Destroy Me (Shatter Me Novella #1) by Tahereh Mafi, Science fiction

Holiday hours

CELA and its Contact Centre will be closed for Family Day on Monday, February 17, 2025. 
We will resume regular hours on Tuesday, February 18, 2025. 

Enjoy your day!

Stay connected!

Logos of X, Facebook, and YouTube.Visit CELA's social media, including X (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook, YouTube and our blog, for more news about what's happening in the world of accessible literature.